Although there are thousands of leadership books and leadership gurus to learn from, leadership isn’t something you can simply read about. It takes more than reading or trying to implement tactics derived from a leadership workshop. Leadership is something that you have to do, it’s an experiential science. It’s not rocket science; it’s a simple science.

Leadership is just like swimming — you can’t just read about swimming, you have to get in the water, kick your feet and stroke your arms. Leadership is the exact same way — you have to get in the leadership waters, kick your feet and stroke your arms.

The Simple Science Of Leadership Boils Down To These Simple Things:

Believe In Yourself

Believe In Others

Point The Direction

Embrace The Concept Of Team

Provide An Environment For Growth

Inspire and Motivate Others

Move People From Where They Are To Where The Need To Be

Develop, Develop, Develop, & Develop

dream BIG. think BIGGER.

Often times managers make leadership more difficult than it has to be, by micro-managing, trying to hard, squashing creativity and making a simple science into rocket science. Leadership is about influence and relationships. Leadership Is Simple.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu says it this way, “When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.” Simply put, it was simple.

Is leadership that simple? Share your thoughts and experiences with leadership being made more difficult than it had to be.

Trying to answer the question of “why an organization or an individual failed?” generally creates some great dialogue. It forces individuals to ask deeper questions and generally prompts individuals to start pointing blame.

Over the years in working with many organizations, individuals, political candidates, teams etc., I have found some pretty common and simple themes as to what contributes to failure.

5 Reasons Businesses, Organizations & People Fail

1. Lack Identity- They don’t know who they are or who they want to be. They are defined by the latest, greatest, newest trend and this is a cyclical process. A person or organization without an identity or clear values to shape their identity is destined to fail.

2. Copy Cat- This is similar to #1; however the heart behind this one is to be like “so and so.” It’s important to copy what’s burning deep inside you, not what’s burning inside of someone else. If your only desire is to mimic someone else and not bring anything new, fresh or different to the table, you are destined to fail.

3. Don’t Solicit Proper Feedback- It’s important for individuals and organizations to have the proper people speaking into their plan and their life. This helps to bring clarity to their identity and encourages individuals and organizations to be true to their unique calling. Additionally, wise counsel can provide critical input that may alleviate some of the failure contributors altogether. If you want to know if something is a good idea, ask those closest to you. Not only those closest to you, but rather those closest to you that will shoot you 100% straight. (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) Without Good, Godly and Golden counsel, you are destined to fail.

4. Me Syndrome- If it’s all about you or your organization, you can almost guarantee it’s gonna be all about you, in your own little failure corner of your own little failure world. Failure island is a lonely place to be for selfish people. If it’s all about me-me-me, you are destined to fail.

5. Premature Quitter- I am a firm believer that there is definitely a time to call it quits. The good wise counsel in #3 can be the group that help you ascertain, when it’s time to quit. I think it’s important to always keep trying to change and move the ball of success down the field. Quitting is one of those things that you will often times have to even take one step past your wise counsel. You must pull from deep inside to know your limits and how much harder you need to work. Often times #1 or rather an individual or organization’s identity is defined in the moments they were thinking about giving up. If you quit prematurely, you are always destined to fail. “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touch down. ~Ross Perot

This is a video that I shot literally 3 years ago from this week. It’s amazing how much things have changed in just 3 short years. I took quick unedited video snippets throughout my day and pieced them altogether.

It’s amazing how much things have changed in 3 years:

Feed The Children has gone through some difficult times and a major leadership change

November 28, 2011 in
Apple,iPhone with
Comments Off on Siri Can Now Start Your Car

Apparently the iPhone Siri has been hacked or maybe another word for it is a Siri Proxy has been developed by @Plamoni aka Pete Lamonica. Siri can now be used to start your car, unlock you car and do about anything else a remote control can do. It’s crazy that we are only years away from being the Jetson’s. If you would like to learn more about the Siri Proxy, you can read a complete interview with the hacker inventor himself by clicking here.

What do you think? What are some future things that you would like to see Siri be able to do?

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with friends, family or even by yourself. It’s time to close the Thanksgiving Chapter and move on towards Christmas. If you want a great way to help your family or small group to put a purposed focus on the Christmas Season, you should check out Christmas Reboot.

Christmas Reboot is an eBook by my friend Alan Danielson. It has 25 devotionals that help people and families see Christmas in a different way. The ebook is a great value at $8.99 and this Christmas Season 50% of each purchase goes directly to missions in Guatemala. That’s a 3-in-1 type of deal: 1. no black Friday lines, 2. great book of devotionals, 3. Make a difference in Guatemala.

Most people will use the book, devotional, conversation starters and other activities on a daily basis with their families in December. Click here to read a sample chapter and purchase Christmas Reboot.

You can even purchase a distribution license that allows your organization the legal right to distribute free copies! You can use the distribution license for appreciation gifts to volunteers in your church, to your company’s staff members, or even as a free gift to people in the community. Click here to purchase a bulk distribution license and give Christmas Reboot to people you want to influence.

Lady Wisdom Gives a Thanksgiving Dinner Party

Lady Wisdom has built and furnished her home; it’s supported by seven hewn timbers. The banquet meal is ready to be served: lamb roasted, wine poured out, table set with silver and flowers. Having dismissed her serving maids, Lady Wisdom goes to town, stands in a prominent place, and invites everyone within sound of her voice: “Are you confused about life, don’t know what’s going on? Come with me, oh come, have dinner with me! I’ve prepared a wonderful spread-fresh-baked bread, roast lamb, carefully selected wines.Leave your impoverished confusion and live! Walk up the street to a life with meaning.”

If you reason with an arrogant cynic, you’ll get slapped in the face; confront bad behavior and get a kick in the shins. So don’t waste your time on a scoffer; all you’ll get for your pains is abuse. But if you correct those who care about life, that’s different-they’ll love you for it! Save your breath for the wise-they’ll be wiser for it; tell good people what you know-they’ll profit from it. Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God. It’s through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life ripen. Live wisely and wisdom will permeate your life; mock life and life will mock you… Proverbs 9:1-12

Dessert is defined as: A sweet course, treat or dish; served after the main course.

As I was thinking about the holiday season and all of the desserts so many of us are going to consume; I was reminded of how dessert applies to our lives. It’s the sweet course or treat after life’s main courses. e.g.

It’s essential for us to always be mindful and thankful that even though the “main courses in life” may not always taste great or be our favorite dish, there is always opportunity for dessert. Remember you also have the freedom of choice as it pertains to what you consume, nonetheless always be thankful. “We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.”~Harry Ironside

Don’t sweat the small stuff and don’t be stressed; instead take stressed and flip it backwards.

The Desserts of Life.

For those that still may not understand the title of this post… spell stressed backwards. 🙂

I was planning on writing a blogpost about leadership this morning; however during my 3B-Time Bible, Books & Blogs God gave me something a little different. It’s basically some sentences to help define who “I Am” and who “You Are.”

These sentences by themselves are quite simple, yet if the heart behind them is truly embraced, the results are profound.

I worked with, alongside, for and supervised many people who confuse activity for productivity. These are two very different animals; however they are readily confused for being the same species. Below are some brief definitions of the two:

Activity– The state or quality of being active.

Productivity– The efficiency with which work or output is produced.

Just because a person, group or team is active, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are efficient or productive. This applies to both personal and business life. When individuals make the presumption that Activity = Productivity, they create a system where their primary goal is to be active. They will work long hours, always try to look busy, always try to work on something and encourage those around them to keep busy. Each day they tell themselves, “I have lots of stuff to work on today, I need to get busy.” Their busyness can often be translated to slowness, because their driving force is to be active.

The productive person on the other hand will ask themselves these types of questions: “What do I need to work on today?” “Am I working on the things that matter?” “What do I need to put on my not-to-do list?” “How can I become more efficient?”

For instance I could keep writing this post trying to drive the point home; however I’m convinced that I’ve stated enough for you to have a clear understanding that “Just Because You’re Active, Doesn’t Mean You’re Productive.” For the sake of productivity, I’m done now and not two paragraphs later.

What do you think? Share your thoughts and experiences with those that mistake activity with productivity.